'Coal Heaver' thumbnail 1
'Coal Heaver' thumbnail 2
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'Coal Heaver'

Skirt Suit
1962 (designed and made)
Artist/Maker
Quant, Mary (designer)
Place of origin
London (designed)

Mary Quant’s first boutique, Bazaar, opened in London's King's Road in 1955, launching a successful fashion career. Her youthful easy-to-wear clothing became so popular that in 1963, she launched a lower-priced ready-to-wear range called 'Ginger Group'. She also entered into licensing agreements with manufacturers to produce hosiery, underwear, cosmetics and accessories bearing her name. Almost anyone, whatever their income, could spare the money to buy a pair of 'Mary Quant' stockings or a lipstick. This enabled girls who could not otherwise afford her clothing to feel in touch with fashion, and made Mary Quant a household name.



Object details

Categories
Clothing
Textiles
Object type
Skirt suit
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Waistcoat
  • Skirt
Title'Coal Heaver' (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Wool tweed
Wool
Brief description
'Coal Heaver' ensemble of bolero waistcoat and skirt, mustard yellow wool tweed, Mary Quant, 1962
Physical description
Ensemble of bolero waistcoat of mustard yellow wool tweed, with black leather binding, with matching tweed skirt, 'A' line with deep inverted pleats at centre-front. The waistcoat has vertical pocket-like slits either side of centre front and a chain link between these to loosely fasten.
Production typeReady to wear
Gallery label
(30/03/2020)
[Mary Quant exhibition, 2019]

‘COAL HEAVER’
1962
Worn by Elizabeth Gibbons

Living on the other side of the world did not prevent Elizabeth Gibbons from getting the latest looks from London. ‘Having seen articles about Mary Quant in magazines from England and the US, I was struck by her vibrant and young style. So when we returned to the UK in 1960, I immediately rushed off [and] bought several outfits from Bazaar on King’s Road, Chelsea’.

Wool, kid-leather and metal
Labelled ‘Mary Quant London’
Made in London
V&A:T.34:1&2-2013
Object history
Worn by Elizabeth Gibbons (1928-2018)
Summary
Mary Quant’s first boutique, Bazaar, opened in London's King's Road in 1955, launching a successful fashion career. Her youthful easy-to-wear clothing became so popular that in 1963, she launched a lower-priced ready-to-wear range called 'Ginger Group'. She also entered into licensing agreements with manufacturers to produce hosiery, underwear, cosmetics and accessories bearing her name. Almost anyone, whatever their income, could spare the money to buy a pair of 'Mary Quant' stockings or a lipstick. This enabled girls who could not otherwise afford her clothing to feel in touch with fashion, and made Mary Quant a household name.



Bibliographic references
  • Featured in a John French photograph in the V&A collection, 1962. Originally published in Daily Mail, modelled by Celia Hammond © John French / Victoria and Albert Museum, London
  • Shown with a blouse with black spots on white in the John French photograph. There is no blouse surviving with this example of the suit so for the 2019 we borrowed a similar blouse (with white spots on black) from the Fashion Museum, Bath.
Collection
Textiles and Fashion Collection
Accession number
T.34:1&2-2013

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Record createdMarch 18, 2013
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1261765/coal-heaver-skirt-suit-quant-mary/
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